World Cup 3 Review
Duisburg was the host for the third and Final ICF World Cup, with the men’s K4 1000m team bronze medal the highlight for the Aussies.
The final World Cup for 2011 has concluded with Australia adding only a bronze in Duisburg to the three medals won at each of the first two World Cups held in Poznan and Racice over the last month.
Coming off the back of a gold medal performance in Racice last week Bayswater paddler and WAIS-AIS scholarship holder Alana Nicholls was full of confidence heading into the meet.Unfortunately day one was somewhat of a struggle for the 25 year old, failing to make the women’s K1 500m A final, and settling for a B final.But Nicholls made amends with a dominant performance in the B final taking the victory, before finishing sixth in a close and highly competitive A Final of the K1 200m.
“We have competed at all three World Cups, with Racice as close as last weekend, which a lot of countries did not do,” she said.
“My body is tired but I am happy to have made the A Final and I know I will have more to give for the World Championships,” she said.
After claiming a silver medal in Racice last week, the men’s K4 1000m team of Jacob Clear, Murray Stewart, Matthew Urquhart and Tate Smith, provided the only highlight for the Australian team winning bronze on Saturday.The Australian’s finished 1.8 seconds off the winning time of 2:52.109 set by the powerful Russians, with hosts Germany claiming the silver in front of their home crowd.
Manly paddler Murray Stewart said, “It was a tough race. Our plan was to go out hard and then try to keep that momentum going. I think we executed the plan well – but we’re all hungry to get faster!”
South Australian Luke Morrison and Manly Paddler Murray Stewart headed into the K2 1000m final full of confidence after an impressive display on day one.The duo raced a good final, narrowly missing out on a medal finishing in fourth position, two and half seconds off the winning time.German champions Andreas Ihle and Martin Holstein won the gold, with Russian paddlers Vasily Pogreban and Vitaly Yurchenko in second, Czech duo Jan Sterba and Ondreij Horsky won the bronze.
The women’s K4 1000m final was won in dramatic circumstances by the girls from Great Britain in 1:34.086.With 200m to go the Polish team veered off course compromising Germany’s lead, the German’s managed to recover to finish second, with another Polish crew finishing third.The Aussies girls; Hailey McGinty, Hannah Davis, Naomi Flood and Jo Brigden-Jones finished seventh, 2.53 seconds off the Brit’s winning time.
The World Championships will be held in Szeged, southern Hungary, from 17 August.
Other A finals results saw Joel Simpson finish ninth in the men’s K1 200m final, while women’s K2 500m paddlers Naomi Flood and Hannah Davis, teaming up for their first ever event in a K2, did well to make the final after an impressive semi, also finishing ninth in their final.
The final events of World Cup 3 saw the men’s and women’s K1 200m relay finals, with the women’s team featuring Jo Brigden-Jones, Rachel Lovell, Hannah Davis and Alana Nicholls finishing fourth, while the men’s team of Luke Morrison, Joel Simpson, Jesse Phillips and Stephen Bird finished eighth.
The Australian team can now look forward to some much needed rest, before returning to the water under the guidance of their coaches as they look to continually improve heading into the World Championships which commence in Szeged, Hungary on August 17.
– Canoeing Australia